MLB Mid-Season Awards

It’s halfway through the MLB season with All Star Game festivities kicking off tonight. Now it’s time to look back on the first half of the season and hand out some awards

AL Cy Young Winner: Masahiro Tanaka

I initially thought that Felix Hernandez deserved this award but then I crunched the numbers a little harder and it made me much more impressed with Tanaka. His stat line is impressive, 12-4 through the break with a 2.51 ERA (6th best in MLB), 4.2 WAR (5th best in MLB), 1.01 WHIP (6th best in MLB) with 135 strikeouts. His main competition for this award is Felix Hernandez. Hernandez has slightly better stats, but Hernandez has a significantly better team. The Mariners are 7 games over .500, while the Yankees are just .500. The Mariners defense has given up 91 less runs than the Yankees while scoring just as many runs as the Yankees (it’s actually 3 more runs but who cares). So despite his team’s poor defense (tied for 20th in Runs Allowed in MLB) Tanaka has been able to excel, and as a rookie no less. He as won as many close games as King Felix, and had as many games with poor run support. They have each had 6 wins by two runs or less and Tanaka has had 12 games with run support of 4 runs or less while Hernandez has had 11 such games. He is my mid way Cy Young, and it’s a real shame he got injured.

Runner Up: Felix Hernandez

NL Cy Young Winner: Clayton Kershaw

Dominance. That’s all you need to know when talking about Clayton Kershaw. After a rough May Kershaw has been a man possessed. He just had a 41 inning scoreless inning streak end last Thursday and has been the most dominant pitcher in baseball again this year. He’s sporting a 1.78 ERA with a 0.83 WHIP with an 11-2 and a 4.2 WAR and a crazy low 13 walks through the break. Wainwright has pitched exceptionally through the break as well (1.83 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 4.9 WAR and a 12-4 record) but I give the edge to Kershaw

Runner Up: Adam Wainwright

AL Rookie of the Year Masahiro Tanaka

Read above

Runner Up: Jose Abreu

NL Rookie of the Year: Anthony Rendon

I wish I could give the AL two rookie of the year awards, but I can’t, because Jose Abreu has been playing really good baseball and if the White Sox weren’t so bad he would be considered an MVP candidate. I know Rendon isn’t a pure rookie like Hamilton but he played less than a full season last year so I will include him. Rendon is playing at a high level and is a better all around player than Hamilton, who is strictly a speed demon on the base paths( an awesome speed demon on the base paths.). Rendon has a stat line that reads 13 HR’s 53 RBI’s a .287 batting average, a .490 slugging percentage, a .343 on base percentage and an .834 OPS with a 3.3 WAR. That’s really good for a youngster and he has the opportunity to be a cornerstone with the Nationals for a long time to come.

Runner Up: Billy Hamilton

AL MVP: Mike Trout

His time has come, after losing the past two AL MVP’s to Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout is front and center as the favorite for the AL MVP this year. His stats line heading into the break is a s follows: 22 HR’s, 73 RBI’s, 10 stolen bases, a .310 batting average, a .400 on base percentage, .606 slugging percentage, 1.006 OPS and a 5.5 WAR. Trout is just such a good all-around player its not fair. With Miguel Cabrera falling off from a triple crown level of hitting I think Trout is the front runner fro the MVP.

Runner Up: Jose Abreu

NL MVP: Troy Tulowitzki

The stats speak for themselves: 21 HR’s, 52 RBI’s, .345 batting average, .613 slugging percentage, .435 on base percentage, 1.048 OPS and a 5.7 WAR. If he continues on this pace he will set new career highs in every statistic except WAR. I think he has been clearly the best player in the NL, the argument against him comes from the fact his team sucks. I think that’s unfair to a degree and definitely doesn’t stop him from taking home my hardware. That being said Andrew McCutchen isn’t far behind him and has a great stat line himself: 17 HR’s, 61 RBI’s, 15 Stolen Bases, a .324 batting average, .420 on base percentage, .575 slugging percentage, .995 OPS and a 4.8 WAR and will probably win this award in real life if the Pirates stay in the hunt and/or make the playoffs.